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Reader question: When they say Stephen Curry “can stop on a dime and shoot from anywhere”, what does it mean? Stop on a dime? My comments: When they say Stephen Curry can stop on a dime, it’s a great compliment, meaning Curry, a professional basketball player, can stop and/or change direction abruptly while dribbling the ball at full speed. In other words, he can stop on a dime like a car hitting the brake and stopping with a squeak. Stephen Curry, in case, you don’t know who he is, is the ball handler on the Golden State Warriors team in the North American pro hoops league called the NBA. He’s the reigning league MVP or Most Valuable Player, i.e. its best player right now. Anyways, to say Curry can stop on a dime is a great compliment, likening the athlete to a well-performing car that can hit the brake and stop right then and there. A dime, you see, is a small round-shaped coin worth 10 cents. To say a person can stop and turn on a dime, therefore, means he can operate if you give him the tiniest wiggle room. In other words, he is really nimble and agile. To stop on a dime or, more impressively, turn on a dime are phrases that are mostly used to describe well-performing vehicles, small sedans in particular. To say a car is able to turn on a dime is to say it can turn full circle and make a ring in an area the size of a dime. Figuratively speaking, of course, but, just imagine that! | 
